Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

GSL has been the subject of several other reports. Clarkson Capital upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

GSL opened at $25.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.24. Global Ship Lease has a 52-week low of $16.80 and a 52-week high of $30.32. The firm has a market cap of $882.52 million, a P/E ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.61 and its 200-day moving average is $24.44.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $175.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.07 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 46.30% and a return on equity of 29.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.18%. This is a boost from Global Ship Lease’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.95%.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 87.6% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Global Ship Lease in the second quarter valued at about $88,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Global Ship Lease by 2,642.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,126 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 3,012 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the second quarter worth about $107,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 355.6% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in owning and chartering of containerships under fixed-rate charters to container shipping companies worldwide. As of March 11, 2024, it owned 68 mid-sized and smaller containerships, ranging from 2,207 to 11,040 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), with an aggregate capacity of 375,406 TEU.